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Acidification of oceans leading to stressed krill

In an earlier post I mentioned that previous mass extinctions have been linked to the oceans becoming more acidic (lower pH). Well, it looks like small ocean organisms (the ones that are more vulnerable to this) are showing signs of stress due to the acidification.

Antarctic krill are showing early signs of acidification damage. 40% of the CO2 that is absorbed by oceans ends up in the Southern Ocean. The polar latitudes are affected more than tropical latitudes due to ocean chemistry. With predicted levels of ocean pH, krill eggs don’t develop properly. By 2300 krill wouldn’t be able to reproduce in large areas of the Southern Ocean. Then there are the large animals that eat krill. Blue whales and minke whales would be affected.